In April a few other families from Rochester came down for rotations too. Having these gals here has made a huge difference in my quality of life! Most mornings we meet up at a park, or better yet the beach!
The beach has become our destination of choice. Scarlett was initially scared of the waves, but after seeing how much fun her 3 year old friend was having jumping in them she let me hold her in the water. By the end of the morning I couldn't pull her out of the waves! Unfortunately, a day at the beach is no longer "a day at the beach" because I am constantly holding her hand in the waves, running after her, apologetically giving the toys back to the kids playing near us, asking every dog walker if we can pet their dog and removing washed-up jellyfish from our path. But we're on the beach, so I can't complain!
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| Hard to believe by her body language, but this picture was taken just moments before she said "I love you" to me for the first time :) |
St Augustine is a touristy town 30 minutes south of Jacksonville that we've enjoyed going to a few times. It has a Spanish feel to it and is actually "the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement in the continental United States" (thanks Wikipedia). There is an old fort, narrow cobblestone streets, tons of shops and always a party going on. We were in town for the Rhythm 'n Ribs Festival. Scarlett was appeased by an ear of corn for a solid 20 minutes, so we bought her a second one. I can't help but shudder at spending $6 on two ears of corn. I used to sell it out of the back end of my grandpa's truck for $2 a dozen! Uffda!
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| That smile is worth the $3 ear! |
One of my birthday presents from Ben was tickets to Diana Krall (No, I did not turn 50. Yes, I am an old soul). It was the perfect night out! We had dinner at Benny's Steak and Seafood downtown at Jacksonville Landing. The Florida Theatre was the perfect venue for jazz music. I enjoyed her live even more than the countless nights I've listened to her Pandora station cooking in my kitchen with a glass of wine.
The silver lining in Ben spending 20 hours a the hospital one day is that he gets the next day off. We took the free weekday to explore the Jacksonville Zoo thinking it would be quiet. There were a few classes on field trips with some overwhelmed looking chaperons but once we managed to get in front of them it was quite bearable. Scarlett loved the giraffes, elephants and carousel.
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Taming the wild zebra, Scarlett Aakre...or is it the other way around?   |
We enjoyed an evening at Bargan Stadium watching Jacksonville's AA team. The Jax Suns played the Memphis Biscuits. Needless to say, the Suns won. Who names a team the Biscuits? My toddler eats those for breakfast. I know my husband was a Concordia Cobber, but at least you can "fear the ear". There is no intimidation factor with the Biscuits. Anyway, the stadium was very family friendly. An usher gave Scarlett a ball, there was plenty of open space for her to run and even a playground in the outfield.  |
| Bragan Stadium home of the Jacksonville Suns
Last weekend we enjoyed not only being in a home but a really nice home! Dr & Dr Rodriguez invited us and another anesthesia family from Rochester over for a wonderful afternoon. They were both doctors in Brazil before moving to the states and trained as anesthesiologists at Mayo in Rochester. They now work at Mayo in Jacksonville. The kids had to practically be drug out of the pool for lunch. They grilled us Brazilian steaks and chicken hearts. Scarlett really liked the chicken hearts :)
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| Storm damage |
I attended amazing ball events at venues in Chicago and it sounded great. The bathrooms were better than most places. I did not faced any kind of problems with anything.
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